Microorganisms of the Upper Atmosphere

Abstract

The viable micropopulation at three altitudes (152, 1,066, and 1,981 meters) of a land air mass as it traversed an ocean was determined. At the low altitude, a consistent pattern of decrease in numbers of land-originating microorganisms with increasing distance from shore was observed. At the higher altitudes, the observed pattern was one of irregularity. At the lower altitude the percentages of bacteria and fungi were approximately equal near the coast, but as distance from the coast increased, fungi predominated over the bacteria at all sampling locations. The greatest number of different genera of both bacteria and fungi were obtained at or near the coast. Fungi of the genera Alternaria, Hormodendron, Penicillium , and Aspergillus , and bacteria of the genera Micrococcus and Bacterium predominated at all altitudes and locations.